Oldies
by RavenSara84
Summary: AU. Arthur Kirkland is an old man in a home, along with his friend Francis,who gets regular visits from his step-son Matthew, although Arthur will also receive a visitor, one that he hasn't seen in a long time.


_What the bloody hell is he thinking?_ Arthur Kirkland thought to himself as he watched Franics foolishly attempt to flirt with some young women; _They are old enough to be his great grandchildren!_ He thought, unable to believe that the man was still continuing to flirt with anyone, but the focus was always on those _younger _than him, usually dramatically so.

The other man had no luck, aside from the women calling him an old pervert and walking quickly onwards, anything else Francis did or said was ignored.

To an extent Arthur felt sorry for the Frenchman, keeping an eye on the women and noticing once they thought they were far enough away they laughed at what a spectacle the old man had made of himself, perhaps they thought he should be on a tighter leash if that is how he behaves outside a home.

Arthur remembered when Francis, who was a family friend, although he used to be closer to his older brother than he, used to always have a way with the women, whether he would get them to go out with him or make them flustered, but now…

_We're old. _Arthur thought to himself, he hated the fact that his hair was now completely grey, back when his hair started to go grey he got scared, never realising that age was creeping up on him, but he dealt with in far better than Francis, who was rather vain and kept dying it, even when it began to recede. Finally he accepted that the battle was lost, although he bought shampoo that was meant to help keep the grey hair, although now white, looking good and glossy.

As the latter made his way back over, muttering something in French Arthur spoke up;

"Ever think of _not_ doing that?"

The other man looked affronted at such a suggestion; "Non! The ladies were just _weary_ of my wonderful charm and charisma!"

"More like you are old enough to be their great grandfather," He commented and the Frenchman glared at him.

"Oui? Well at least _I _won't shuffle off this mortal coil without having slept with anyone!" He snapped back.

It seemed like a low blow, but Arthur was used to it, Francis had used that insult so many times over the years, even before he came here, he shrugged it off easily; "Why not go for those who will take up your offer? I bet you haven't slept with anyone in some time,"

There was no comeback to that, instead Francis left, stalking away to the other side of the care home, refusing to speak to Arthur, at least for about an hour. Then he'll be twittering away again at Arthur's ear over something stupid.

Standing up, he felt his back creak; _Use to just be stiff from sitting down for so long doing papers, now it's just sitting down. _He thought to himself, letting his body get used to him standing before he attempted to walk any where.

Francis always had visitors, his step son would visit often visit, although the poor boy didn't seem to know how to take the man, he would rarely say anything aside from short sentences in French, of course Francis would usually talk over him after remembering something else; but there were days when Francis had to see a Doctor about something or when Francis disappeared that he would come over and ask Arthur if he knew where Franics was.

"Gone to flirt with a new nurse," Arthur would reply blandly and the man laughed.

"That's true, maybe I should look for him," He said, but Arthur shook his head.

"The other nursing staff know what he's like, they'll be sure to reign him in and send him back," Arthur said and realised something; "Ah, forgive me, I am Arthur," In such a place last names were rarely used, only by Doctors and some visiting nurses.

"Matthew," The two shook hands; "Are you one of the Kirkland brothers?"

Arthur looked at him, wary of what stories Franics might have told, since the man did like to tell tall stories; "Ah, yes, I am. The youngest one though," He stated, making sure the other knew that there wouldn't be many tales told about him, since Francis spent most of his time with Scott.

"Yes, he used to speak about all of you," Matthew smiled slightly; "I think he was trying to get all his kids to get along, but needless to say it didn't really work,"

"How many children does… No, forget that, it's Francis," Arthur shook his head.

"Ten children and eleven grandchildren," Matthew informed him anyway, then noticed the looked Arthur gave him; "Right now there are only five great grandchildren, but my step-sister is expecting twins and my step-brother's wife is expecting too,"

"Certainly a big family,"

"Christmas time is rather troublesome," Matthew confessed; "Each year we go to a different siblings home, although it changes, so five of us go to one of our five siblings homes, that way it's not so crowded,"

"Good plan, but what about family fall outs?"

"Oh, we don't really have them, we all fallout with each other; but usually we'll speak to each other, or someone else will make sure we do," Matthew informed him; "Our mother never liked us falling out with each other,"

Arthur nodded and continued to speak to the man every time he visited, although he wondered why, perhaps it was due to the fact he could have a normal conversation with the younger man, unlike Francis who would talk about things that… Well he probably shouldn't be so obsessed with at his age. There were also twins who came to see him, one always appeared upset or angry, while the other was so carefree and rather childish it was rather funny to watch, although Arthur didn't interact with them.

As for himself, he didn't have visitors, his brother's were all in homes, going down hill, and his eldest very nearly gone, always sleeping, which hurt him to think about it. He moved past those thoughts. His brother's married and had families, he didn't. Instead he adopted a child he found, although he gave the boy to a orphanage, since he kept coming back to check on him it was decided; that he should adopt the boy; after all the paper work was filled in.

Alfred was his name.

Arthur had done what he could, to begin with Alfred was like a good boy, a menace at times, but did his best. Although Arthur never saw himself as a parent, nor dreamed of being one, he liked the young boy, the boy was rather lively and kept him on his toes, but he enjoyed parenthood, more so than he thought he would. Then he went to go overseas for college, and come back…

_Some kind of idiot._ Arthur thought to himself, feeling his heartache over this subject as well. He didn't wish to mull over that subject either, Alfred coming back home after being away to college was painful, although the two had agreed that it was better for Alfred to remain in the area of his college during the holidays, because it saved him money and he could work without taking so much vacation time.

He had moved himself into this home, Alfred never visited any more, his brother's and their families were busy focusing on each other. Arthur didn't wish to be a burden before it was time, so he made sure he had everything organised, going into a home and selling his house to pay for it.

Five years on, here he was, still alive, no visits from Alfred; although he did wonder, after Francis taunted him about his lack of visitors, whether he would want Alfred to visit or not.

He was always in two minds over the subject, his head telling him that he would be angry to see Alfred return, while his heart said that he would rejoice, but being in two minds didn't mean a thing.

"Mr Kirkland?" Matthew said softly, just arriving to visit Francis once more; "You have a visitor," He moved out of the way and Arthur was flabbergasted to see Alfred, standing there in a suit and tie.

Arthur slowly stood up and looked at him, scanning him up and down, as though his eye sight wasn't failing him; "Been sometime Alfred,"

He thought he saw the other man wince, but aside from that _nothing_; "Yea, sorry about that, work got in the way ya know?"

"_Really_?" Arthur said, feeling the anger that he had kept contained for many years, many, _many_ years since Alfred had left his home after a year from returning from college and never returned, a phone call here and a letter or a postcard there, but no consistent contact, nothing for _him _to write back to.

"Yea, work is busy and all… Oh! I have a kid of my own now…" Alfred said with a smile and Arthur faltered, but only for a moment.

"I think you should leave," Matthew said gently, noticing the signs that the older man was upset, although Alfred just stared at him in surprise; "He's really not…"

"Aw relax! I know him, he raised me…" Alfred began to explain, carefree as always Arthur saw, but his father interrupted him.

"Actually I agree with Matthew. You _should_ leave, better than that though Alfred, don't, and I mean this, _don't _come back," He let out a shuddering breath, his anger from the years gone by were wanting to flood out but he _had_ to keep himself in check; "You left, oh of course you phoned and sent letters and postcards, but you _left_. I couldn't call you to tell you about Scott being taken into hospital, I couldn't tell you about Shaun having cancer, I couldn't tell you the wedding the Morag had, that's Scott's daughter, in case you forgot. I don't think anyone in our family considers you a Kirkland anymore," He said finally, challenging Alfred to have a comeback/

Alfred paled; "Well my last name is Jones now, I found my family…," He suddenly realised that this was the wrong thing to say, but it was too late to take anything back, to late to do anything really.

"Get-Out," Arthur growled, he could feel the tears, the tears he used to hold in without much thought, threaten to unleash; "_Get out_! You have found your birth family, well done that boy. You abandoned the family that _raised_ you. Just go! And never come here again!" He turned his back and began to walk out of the visiting room when Matthew quickly came up to him.

"Mr Kirkland…" He started, not sure how to deal with this, he had never had to _deal _with this situation before.

"Matthew I want him _gone_. I haven't seen him in many years, I don't care what he has to say, whether it's good or bad news, we _aren't_ a family any more, he made that very clear when he left," Arthur stated, just wanting to go to his room, shut the door and cry, just cry for all the time lost with his only son. Cry because he hadn't known when to begin to search for him. Cry for the loss of his family, that he was the only one left.

"All right," He left his side, although kept an eye on Arthur before going up to Alfred, who watched Arthur leave the room, shuffling his feet along the carpet; "You really need to go now,"

"What? After that? Hell no," Alfred began to walk after Arthur, but Matthew quickly grabbed his arm; "Get off," He tried to pull the other man off him, but was surprised to find the man had a rather good grip.

"No!" Matthew yelled, Francis watched on with an open mouth, unable to believe that this was his step-son in front of him, helping Arthur and being so much loader about it; "_No_. You have no idea what he's been through…"

"Yea? That's why I'm here, to learn…" Alfred tried to explain, thinking that by being here he would make up for lost time.

"That's not it. You missed the point. Didn't you hear what Arthur said? About Shaun and Scott and Morag? The news of _his_ family over the years? Do you have any idea how he feels just by seeing you again?" Matthew explained, trying to get Alfred to understand too, and also trying to ignore Francis starring at him in shock over his loud outburst; he was always the quiet child, the one people forgot about, but he was fine with that, they were a large family after all, but when he met Arthur, who _remembered_ him, at least most of the time, recently he was a bit absent minded and forgot what his name was but knew who he was, Francis' step-son. He felt important when Arthur spoke about his family, although he was disheartened to hear it was all in past-tense.

"Happy?" He guessed.

Matthew sighed and shook his head; "No, angry. Angry that you wasted so many years, so much time has past, now Arthur has been here for over five years, he didn't have to come here so soon, but everything that was happening with his brother's made him realise that no one would watch out for him, as he had no family,"

"He had me," Alfred protested, but once more Matthew shook is head; "What's the deal dude?" He was getting annoyed at the other man's attitude, as though he knew Arthur better than he did.

"Arthur is now used to not having family by him; you've been gone for how many years now?" Matthew paused and saw that what he was saying was finally sinking in; "You coming in here out of the blue and then announcing about finding your birth family wasn't exactly tactful,"

"What should I do? Just not come here? Because we relocated..." Alfred began to argue again, not going to let this go so easily.

"Due to your job though? Not due to Arthur, that was just luck," Matthew commented and Alfred nodded; "If Arthur wants you here he will let you know, but right now you've upset him, pretty badly. Give it a few days,"

With that advice Alfred left the care home, not noticing that someone watched him leave.

The advice that Matthew gave Alfred was good, but sadly a few days later when he returned he learned the sad news.

Arthur had gone.

"But… But…" Alfred fell to his knees in shock, unable to process that the man who had raised him was actually gone; "He… He was unstoppable, he was…" The tears began to flow, as his own regrets came to the surface, not speaking to Arthur enough or telling him exactly what he was doing.

Matthew watched, while keeping an eye on his step-father, he smiled sadly, knowing that Alfred finally understood, he finally got Arthur's pain, but in the worst possible way.


End file.
